Dr Nathan Onyach, the Director of Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, explains that unlike the past weeks and months when the COVID treatment facility was admitting patients almost on a daily basis, the have not received any cases for close to a week. He adds that with zero suspects and no confirmed cases, medics at the facility got a sigh of relief and are optimistic that this could be the beginning of a milestone.
Ronald Mugera Bbaale, the Chairperson of Masaka Municipality Business Community lashed out to the city leadership of neglecting a critical aspect of public hygiene in the town despite them being prompt in collecting taxes.
Dr Atek Kagirita, an Epidemiologist and a Technical Consultant at the COVID-19 surveillance task force says that the need for a home-based care model for COVID-19 patients has necessitated rolling out testing services and to improve accessibility and public uptake.
Dr. Katungi blames the absence of an anesthetist to limited staffing levels at the health unit. The health center, which is supposed to have 57 staff, is short by over 20 health workers.
Tom Darlington Balojja, a friend to the deceased’s family confirms that the duo also fell sick shortly after the death of Nakasirye, and their conditions continued deteriorating until Tuesday.
Professor Pontiano Kaleebu, the Director of Uganda Virus Research Institute-URVI/MRC and Chief Investigator in the PrEPVacc trial says, the testing which begun on Tuesday at the research site in Masaka is going to be done on a total 1,668 volunteers clustered in five groups ranging between 18 to 40 years of age, who have been drawn from HIV high risk communities in Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa.
Tony Kujawa, the Kampala US Embassy Spokesperson, says the program will support Uganda’s health sector at the national, regional, district and facility levels to combat the HIV pandemic. Kujawa says the facilities were identified for their capability in promoting access to quality health care services across the country.
Caroline Kamasaka, a Digital Specialist in the Ministry of Health, says the system is going to integrate the work of all departments in Regional Referral Hospitals to show the progress on patients’ management from right from diagnosis, prescription of drugs, treatment and referrals onto the network that will be centrally monitored.
Doctor Henry Mwebasa, the Director General of Health Services said many senior medical staff including consultants are performing way below their capacity and their negligence is causing unacceptably high mortality levels in referral hospitals especially of mothers who go in labour on weekends
By Wednesday out of over 200 education institutions distributed across Masaka district, the assessment team had inspected 174 centers, and had only issued 100 certificates of compliance to schools that passed the compliance tests.
A circular issued by Reverend Canon Samuel Mwesigwa, the West Buganda Diocesan Administrative Secretary, says that all the 521 Churches in the nine districts under the diocese will remain closed to people with advanced age because of their vulnerability to the coronavirus disease.
A team of security officers led by Masaka Resident District Commissioner, Herman Ssentongo stormed the company’s operation center at Maria Flo hotel on Friday and shut its operations.
Herman Ssentongo, the Masaka Resident District Commissioner and Chairperson of the District COVID-19 Response Taskforce, says they have started tracing for the contacts of the confirmed cases to isolate them before they are tested.
Steven Kasaija, the SAGE coordinator at the Ministry of Gender noted that riding on lessons from districts in the Northern and Eastern part of the country which were covered first, the government was convinced to bring onboard the elderly in districts of the central and southern regions where the need is also high.
The patients also recorded videos, in which they accused the hospital management of failure to care for them, lamping them together with new patients and feeding them poorly.
The plastic shields, according to medics, protect eyes, nose and the mouth from potentially deadly droplets through which the infection is transmitted. They are a crucial outfit at a time when the government is recommending wearing face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
The lower health centres have registered an increase in the number of patients in recent weeks, due to restrictions on public transport and other measures instituted by the government to stem the spread of COVID-19. But many of them are operating without any standard procedure for safeguarding against the infection which spreads from person to person, mainly through respiratory droplets.
